Directed by the EC, the local election office on July 29 started sending its enumerators on door-to-door visits in the city corporation area to collect particulars of prospective voters with prescribed forms for preparing the voter list with photographs.

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, legal experts termed the step 'unlawful' and asked the EC not to continue the task before amending Electoral Rolls Ordinance 1982. The ordinance asks the EC to update the existing voter list, but there is no provision for preparing a new one.

The Supreme Court had also asked the EC to update the existing electoral roll several times.

"It seems that the task is unlawful. The Election Commission should have amended the law before beginning the task," Ghulam Rabbani, former judge of Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, said.

Former election commissioner Justice Naimuddin Ahmed also echoed the same view.

"Anybody can file writ petition with the High Court challenging the Election Commission's unlawful activity of preparing the voter list. If the issue is challenged, the commission will have to face difficulties in preparing the voter list and the parliamentary election will be delayed," he observed.

Asked about the opinion of legal experts, Election Commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain said that the government has approved in principle the draft for amending the ordinance.

"Before launching the task officially, Electoral Rolls Ordinance, 1982 will be amended," he said.

Contacted, another Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain told The Daily Star that Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed would formally inaugurate the task for preparing the voter list with photographs in RCC area on August 5.

Asked how come the enumerators started doing their job without the amendment of the existing laws, he said that the enumerators are only distributing voter registration forms in line with the existing laws, but they are not collecting any particulars at present.

"The law will be amended before the task of taking their [voters'] photographs begins," he asserted.

On July 21, the Council of Advisers approved in principle the draft to amend the Electoral Rolls Ordinance 1982 for preparing the voter list with photographs, but it is not made a law yet by promulgating an ordinance.

Meanwhile, the EC did not issue any written order to begin the task in RCC area. A senior official in the EC Secretariat during his visit to RCC area verbally ordered the local election office to kick off the task in advance so that the chief adviser can witness the preparation of the voter list with photographs, sources said.

The previous EC led by Justice MA Aziz gave rise to widespread controversy as it did not properly follow the electoral laws and Supreme Court directives for preparing the voter roll by updating the existing list.

The Supreme Court ultimately declared the voter list prepared for the stalled ninth parliamentary elections null and void.

To avoid controversy, legal experts suggested that the EC keep a provision in its proposal to give a retrospective effect to the amended electoral rolls ordinance to justify its action before amending the law.

"If the Election Commission does not give any retrospective effect to justify the task, question will be raised over its legality," Justice Rabbani observed.

NEW VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS
Under section 4 of the Electoral Rolls Rules 1982, the EC has already approved a new form to collect at least 28 particulars of each prospective voter.

However, the immediate past form, which was also prepared under the same section of the electoral rolls rules, sought only nine particulars of a prospective voter and the enumerators collected those particulars by visiting door-to-door.

This time, the enumerators are collecting particulars of prospective voters with new forms and are asking them to visit nearby voter registration centres to have his or her photographs and fingerprints taken for simultaneously preparing the voter list with photographs and national identity cards.

Apart from a set of basic particulars about a prospective voter, the new form also seeks some extra particulars like -- identification mark, blood group and optional information like -- Tax Identification Number, driving licence, IRIS scan/DNA reports, passport number and telephone number.

VOTER LISTING TASK IN RAJSHAHI
A total of 908 enumerators, 182 supervisors, 30 assistant registration officer and a registration officer was appointed to prepare the voter list with photographs for the RCC area, which has nearly 3 lakh voters.

Some 101 voter registration centres are being set up to take photographs and fingerprints of the prospective voters.

Our correspondent from Rajshahi reports that the task has begun in full swing with the enumerators visiting door-to-door.

Hasna Banu, an enumerator, told this correspondent yesterday that she has been making door-to-door visits at Ramchandrapur and Ahmedpur under ward 23 since Sunday.

"I am helping voters filling in the forms and I have collected 117 completed voter forms so far," she said.

She had also been informing the prospective voters of the time for visiting voter registration centres to have his or her photographs and fingerprints taken, she added.

Another enumerator Golam Mostafa, who has been working at Ramchandrapur along with his 11 others colleagues, said that he had collected 38 filled up voter forms. "Voters of my area were interested (to enrol) and at times, they took us to their homes," he added.